


Oliver Meets His Match

by things_that_matter



Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [58]
Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types, Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Brothers, Domestic Fluff, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 22:14:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30146388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/things_that_matter/pseuds/things_that_matter
Summary: Elio is away, and Ollie is struggling.
Relationships: Oliver/Elio Perlman
Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [58]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094873
Comments: 9
Kudos: 24





	Oliver Meets His Match

“Let’s go, Ollie!” Oliver called from where he stood near the front door. He grew very still, listening. But he heard none of the hustle and bustle one would expect from someone hurrying. “Ollie!” He felt his jaw tighten, and reminded himself to count to ten. One, two, three, four…. “OLLIE PERLMAN!” he dropped his keys back in the dish by the front door so that he could go fetch the malefactor. 

Fortunately, he was easy to find sitting in the middle of his unmade bed. “Ollie, you need to come when I call you,” Oliver said. He was trying to soften his voice, because he was quite angry. Elio had been invited to play piano in Boston again, this time for ten days. This tasked Oliver with the morning Ollie duties as well as the afternoon ones. And he didn’t mind. He loved Ollie. But Ollie could be tricky when either of them were gone. He was sometimes his normal, playful self, but occasionally he became sullen and difficult. And Oliver was very reluctant to discipline him for it, because he’d undergone the trauma of losing both parents less than a year ago. He knew that Ollie’s traumatic experience and his volatile reaction to them being away were connected. At the same time, he couldn’t be late for work. Though he hoped Elio would never find out, this was the second time Ollie had missed the bus, which in turn made Oliver late. But Ollie seemed to have nothing to say about it. 

Oliver took a few calming breaths, but they didn’t help. 

Eventually he did get Ollie herded into the car, where the little boy sat grumpily in the backseat.

“Ollie, what’s up, buddy?” he asked. 

Ollie groaned and gave the vacant front passenger seat a kick. At least he had the self-control not to kick _his_ seat, Oliver thought. 

“Are you missing Elio?” he asked next. 

Another groan from Ollie, followed by a sigh from Oliver. 

As soon as he pulled up to the school, Ollie jumped out of the car and ran up the sidewalk without as much as a backward glance. “Love you, too. Goodbye, buddy,” Oliver muttered to no one at all. 

That afternoon was no better. Ollie stepped off the bus, and dawdled his way up to the house even though he could see Oliver was waiting on him. When he finally reached the porch, he threw his things on the floor, which was nothing new. But the way he looked at Oliver as he shucked his jacket and let it fall made Oliver grind his teeth together as he smiled. “Take care of your things,” he reminded, and Ollie did. After taking his things to his room, however, Ollie did not return. Oliver felt his patience depleting rapidly. He went into Ollie’s room and found him sitting on his loveseat, playing a game on his iPad. Oliver sat down beside him and watched him play for a minute, not mentioning that he wasn’t supposed to be on the iPad. 

“Ollie, do you want to call Elio?” he asked.

“No,” Ollie huffed while continuing to play his game. “I don’t like Elio.” 

Oliver sat up a little straighter. It was one thing to be rude to him, but he was fiercely protective of Elio. He reached over and took the iPad before Ollie could protest. Ollie opened his mouth to complain, but Oliver spoke first. “Ollie, that’s not nice. Elio loves you and misses you. That would really hurt his feelings if he knew you said that.” 

Ollie’s lip poked out. 

“Maybe if you can’t behave any better than this, you shouldn’t go to karate tonight.” 

Ollie crossed his arms and turned away from Oliver abruptly. 

“And you’re showing me, yet again, that you don’t intend to behave yourself,” Oliver said, standing and turning to leave. He honestly didn’t know how to proceed. He was pretty big on following rules and behaving oneself, and Ollie expected that from him. Of course this was a different situation, and he was trying as hard as he could to keep that thought at the forefront of his mind. Unsure of what to say or do, he turned to leave the room. 

When he got almost to the door, he heard Ollie’s little voice pipe up, and it was the sweetest sound, because it sounded like _his_ Ollie. “I’m sorry. Please let me go to karate. I _have_ to,” he pleaded. 

Oliver turned with a sigh, thinking. He really did not think Ollie deserved to go anywhere fun given his behavior, but at the same time he thought that not going to karate would just be another disruption to his routine. When he saw Ollie looking up at him, hope glistening in his eyes, he felt as soft as Elio. 

“Okay, Ollie, but I expect you to behave yourself better than you have been the last few days. I know you don’t like it when Elio is away, but we want Elio to be happy, right?” 

Ollie nodded, tears welling in his eyes. “Why does Elio have to go to Boston to be happy though? Doesn’t he like it here?” 

This nearly broke Oliver’s heart, and he was glad that he hadn’t punished him for his behavior, however dismal it may have been. He walked back over and sat down next to Ollie again, sliding the little boy onto his lap. “Elio loves it here, Ollie. And he loves you. And me,” he promised. 

They had a long talk, and by the end, they both felt much better. Ollie didn’t give him anymore trouble, but was very cooperative the rest of the afternoon. Soon enough, they had eaten, finished the weekend’s homework, cleaned the kitchen, and were on their way to karate. 

Oliver walked him in as usual, but he decided to stay for the class in case Ollie became difficult again. As they walked in, Ollie’s instructor came over to greet them with a huge smile, as usual. 

“Hello! How’s Ollie?” he said to Oliver, but looking at Ollie and for his benefit. Ollie smiled up at him, and Oliver reached down instinctively, placing his hand on Ollie’s head. 

“He’s good. He’s missing Elio a bit I think,” Oliver said. 

“Aww man. It stinks when Elio is gone, huh?” the instructor commiserated good-naturedly. 

Ollie nodded, but his face did not betray his emotions. 

Oliver patted his head, then ruffled his hair, finally slipping his hand down to his outside shoulder and pulling him in for a side hug. “It’s difficult. He almost didn’t get to come to class tonight, but he pulled it together.” 

The instructor’s smile was suddenly non-existent, replaced by a very serious look. He crossed his arms and turned his gaze toward Ollie. “Oh really?” he asked. 

Ollie wrapped an arm around Oliver’s leg. 

Oliver realized immediately that he shouldn’t have said anything. He had only intended to let them know that he was a little fragile, so they could take care with him. He certainly hadn’t meant to get him in trouble. He patted Ollie’s shoulder. “He’s okay now. We gave Elio a call and I think he’s feeling better now.” 

The instructor was no longer listening to Oliver, it seemed. His attention was entirely on Ollie. “What was going on?” he asked Ollie, who shrugged. Oliver had never taken martial arts, but he knew enough to know that shrugging wasn’t an acceptable answer, and he cringed a little. As protective as he was of Elio, he was even more protective of Ollie. He felt the arm that was wrapped around his leg tighten its grip. 

“It’s okay, Ollie...” he began. He’d been planning to coax Ollie into answering, but he was quickly interrupted. 

“It’s not okay, and Ollie can answer me. Can’t you, Ollie?” the instructor stated. Oliver was taken aback by his demeanor. Didn’t he realize Ollie was seven years old? Didn’t he realize what he’d suffered in the past year. He knew, though. Because Oliver and Elio had met with him before signing Ollie up, and it had been discussed in detail. 

“Ollie, let’s go home, buddy,” Oliver said. He moved the hand that was on his shoulder and took Ollie’s hand again. 

“Noooooooo,” Ollie whined. This surprised Oliver. In fact, he was momentarily speechless, a rare condition for him. 

“There’s no reason to leave, sir. Ollie is my student and he knows what is expected of him. Don’t you, Ollie?” 

Ollie nodded. 

“Don’t you, Ollie?” he repeated. 

And to Oliver’s further shock, Ollie didn’t pout at all but answered, “Yes. Sorry.”

There was a long pause, and then, “I’m not the one you owe an apology to.” 

So Ollie dutifully looked up at him. “Sorry, Oliver.” 

Oliver nodded, feeling an unusual jumble of feelings. Protective. Embarrassed. Angry. Thankful. He did not know which emotion was dominant at the moment. They all mixed together into something entirely novel. 

“That’s better. And you can go warm up with seven push-ups before we begin.” 

“Yes sir,” Ollie said as he wandered over to the corner of the mat to do his punishment pushups without complaint. 

After Ollie left, Oliver expected some appeasement from the instructor. But he simply said, “Well tell Elio we wish him a speedy return.” Before Oliver could reply, he was walking away, leaving Oliver standing slack jawed. 

Late that night, after Ollie was sleeping soundly in Oliver’s bed, _just for tonight,_ Oliver finally got to FaceTime Elio. He sat on the deck, as they so often did, missing Elio so much it was almost a physical sensation. 

They talked for over an hour, until they were both nearly falling asleep. But then Oliver remembered that he hadn’t told Elio about the situation at Ollie’s karate class. 

Oliver expected Elio to be worried or concerned, but Elio only laughed. At first, he only snickered, but by the end of Oliver’s recounting of the incident, Elio was doubled over laughing. Oliver was laughing a bit, too, mostly at how amused Elio was. 

“Good grief, Elio. You’re giggling like a _girl,”_ he teased.

After Elio finally calmed down enough to speak, he said, “Well just imagine the instructor was you, and you were me. That’s how I feel All. The. Time.”

Oliver smirked. 

“It’s true. I’m glad you _finally_ know how it feels to be me. In fact, maybe I should call you Elio from now on.”

Oliver smiled, in awe that he could love someone so much. “I like the sound of that, Oliver,” Oliver replied. 


End file.
